Chapter 1: A Surprise Guest

Winston Family,

 

Today was the sixtieth birthday ceremony of the head of the family and the family had done all they could to have important dignitaries invited to the family.

 

Raymond Winston, on the other hand, who had just arrived at the front of the magnificent building, looked nothing like someone that was here to attend a birthday party.

 

Dressed in a casual shirt and pants, which made his originally dashing appearance toned down, he looked nothing like all the other guests that had entered previously.

 

It would be hard to accept if someone pointed out that he was the actual first son of the Winston family

 

"Who are you?" One of the guards asked him as his eyes flashed with disdain.

 

"I'm here for my father's birthday party." He replied coldly. His facial expression had no changes and was full of disregard for the guards.

 

"Pffftt." One of the guards barked in laughter, unable to resist anymore, while the other two guards looked at each other and scoffed as they gave Raymond a look from head to his foot. Since they had worked here for more than three years, they were quite in tune with how the rich people dressed.

 

To a certain point, they knew some brands already and knew that what this man was wearing was nothing they had seen before.

 

"If you need some food to eat, we can help you arrange leftovers after the party ends and keep some for you but don't expect that we would allow any stray dog who claims to be our lord's son inside." One said with a self-righteous expression.

 

The Winston family had two heirs, a son and a daughter. Everyone knew this, so how could another person come here and claim to be their boss's son?

 

Without giving any warning, Raymond used one hand to pull one of the guards to him while sending a kick to the other one. The third guard reacted instantly and rushed towards him, giving Raymond just enough time to smash the head of the one with him and the other one together.

 

The both of them yelped loudly like dying pigs while Raymond dusted his hands and let himself in.

 

Although he was the first son, barely anyone knew who he was, and even when he walked in, the only reason why the staff didn't stop him was that they felt that for someone to be able to pass through the guards' checkpoint, he must have had some identification check already.

 

More importantly, nobody wanted to be the one responsible for insulting a guest or causing a commotion on a day like this, so Raymond entered the party hall without any disturbance.

 

"Grandma, Father." Raymond greeted the two people seated at the head of the table politely, with his voice devoid of any warmth. Although no one in the capital knew, the Winston family knew very well that their first son, who had been missing for years, had finally returned.

 

Yet, they didn't want anyone to know he had survived publicly, and they even monitored his movements.

 

The family of five at the head of the table was shocked to see Raymond appear here after all. They hadn't sent him an invitation. Moreover, he had been sent to some rural house to live, and they didn't expect he would find out.

 

Today was his father's sixtieth birthday, and while the Winston family was nothing like before, they could still pull as many strings as they could to invite a lot of important people to the party. With how much effort they had spent, they didn't want anyone to know he was their family member.

 

And so when Raymond greeted them in that way, the whole crowd looked at him and then looked at the Winstons.

 

"Hehe.. this is a son I just adopted to assist Luke. After all, if there's someone to handle the mundane and little duties, Luke would be able to focus on making the income and company get better." Father Winston said hurriedly.

 

Many of the lower families nodded at first like as if they supported his decision but some of the mid-level families couldn't hide their thoughts. After all, the Winston Group was nothing more than an empty shell at the moment.

 

"Ahh! That's a good thought, after all, the company does need the full attention." One of them said making some others burst into laughter and then whisper among themselves.

 

Father Winston gripped his chair tightly as he tried to refrain from his anger, after all, everyone here was a guest that was already stronger than their family. Offending them would only put him in jeopardy.

 

Yet, he couldn't hide the anger he felt towards their ways, after all, when his company was good, they had all found ways to please him. Now that the company was doing badly, they didn't care to even respect him.

 

"I heard that the Winston family might have a looming engagement with the Brooks family." Someone said while all the other men there leaned forward as if afraid to miss any information.

 

However, there was no way that father Winston who was spending all his hours trying to salvage his family's company would have known that something like that was happening.

 

He looked at Luke, his gaze questioning and when he read the look in his son's eyes, he spoke up.

 

"I'm sure that you have heard it wrongly, after all, my family is on a different level from their family.." He argued immediately.

 

The Brooks family was a first-grade family and while it was far from being at the supreme level, they were still a huge leap in status for them. More importantly, they had two daughters which meant that a lot of families with sons were hoping to form ties with them through marriage.

 

If his son could attract either of the two, he was sure that their family's company could be salvaged.

 

For someone that was used to playing dirty already, John Winston, the family head of the Winston, and Raymond's father kept his emotions in check and turned to them to convince them completely.

 

"The younger ones can be quite funny, although I have absolutely no idea about this, I would get to the bottom of the rumor, lest we offend people we shouldn't."

 

"Your younger son is very attractive, he looks like someone that was raised in an upper family, is he someone we should know?" One of the married ladies from the mid-family asked.

 

She was from the Strox family and since she had an important family, her husband's family would usually not try to restrain her. Seeing that even while standing by the side, the adopted son had an air around him that surpassed most of the young masters she had seen and even her brothers, she got curious.

 

Although most of them didn't notice it before since he was wearing simple clothes, the moment they looked at him again, they felt like what she had said was very true. Just by standing there, he was oozing an air of command and authority that made them feel like he had more power than he ought to.

 

Not only did the guests notice but even John, his wife, and even Luke noticed it and their faces blackened in anger.

 

What rich family?

 

The little bastard had been used as a help and servant all this while and only managed to find his way home this time around. She had only sent him a secret invite because she wanted him to see just what life they were living now, to see the full extent of the Winston family without him and his mother.

 

For someone like her that didn't interfere in the company matters, today was the first time she was hearing about the murmurs regarding the looming bankruptcy.

 

"This boy? He has been trained as a help and is used to giving off an intimidating aura that wouldn't allow people to disturb his masters." Old Grandma Winston said and then barked into laughter.

 

The total disregard and mockery in her voice that had the young man unable to do anything made everyone feel like they had been overthinking and looking away from him.

 

The party continued as several people started to present their gifts to father Winston.

 

Since it had already been said that he was just an adopted son, no one faulted Raymond for not bringing any gift. Raymond on the other hand stood there overseeing the whole event while wondering why they had sent him a message to come over and then acted shocked to see him.

 

His eyes narrowed on the old woman and then sneered in his heart. Even for them when their family was on the brink of death, she still had the mind to think about him.

 

"Master! The first daughter of Brooks's family is here." One of the house servants ran in and announced, stunning the whole crowd.

 

One had to know that the Brooks family was not at the Winston family's level. More importantly, the first daughter was the pearl of the family's eyes and was treated even better than royalty.

 

If they sent her over, it certainly meant that there was something between both families and most likely, the Winston family would even grow stronger.

 

Thinking up to that point, most people changed their attitude toward John immediately. If he could become the father-in-law to the Brooks family, they would be the ones needing his help in no time.

 

John smiled happily as he saw the smiles on their faces. However, the woman beside him wasn't as happy as she looked around and sent an eye signal to someone on the other end of the room.

 

The middle-aged woman across the room stood up and walked past Raymond who was still standing at a corner by the high table.

 

Raymond's eyes squinted as the woman passed, yet, he couldn't stop the tightening in his chest as he slumped.